An Interview with Ronna Porter – Tech Marketing Veteran & Established Expat
Her Expat Life had the pleasure of speaking to Ronna Porter, Founder of Justa Marketing in Bavaria,
Southern Germany. This Scottish Islander has spent half her life outside her homeland, and is
developing a new business supporting expat women – especially young mothers – to thrive.
1: Congratulations on developing 'Connected & Fulfilled Mamas Overseas' – Tell us more about this
new venture and the biggest challenges you faced, and how did you overcome them?
Thank you! I’ve been bouncing around Europe since my early 20s. And while living overseas has
been an international adventure, the greatest challenge has been learning to thrive on constant change through each stage of life, take advantage of each opportunity, ride out each disappointment. It’s always about doing your best for the people in your life, ideally without completely sacrificing your own dreams – as many mothers do. You need to invest in friendship to survive. It takes a village as they say …
With this hindsight, I want to make it easier for young migrant and expat women to prioritise long-
term friendship, connection, and fulfilment as an antidote to the pain, shame, and frustration of
loneliness and social isolation that many of us suffer at some point.
Under the ‘Liberated Islander’ brand, I’m developing resources supporting expat women. This starts
now with a Facebook private group, and in spring 2023, a book and digital course – all called
'Connected &Fulfilled Mamas Overseas.'
Feel free to join the group and the conversation!
2: You have had an incredible and inspiring career! What has been the most impactful work you have
done over your career?
From my perspective, it was the chance to help my clients tell stories every day of their greatest
impact. Touring Ontario in Canada with European aerospace journalists and seeing the manipulation
arm of the International Space Station up close. Writing about how optical sensors on the NASA
Perseverance Rover enable it to move around and analyse rock samples. Explaining how their
supercomputing power enabled the decoding of the human genome, or their spectral sensors
underpinned accessible, fast and reliable virus testing using a technology better known for pregnancy
testing. It’s been quite a ride .. but of course that’s only part of the story. Each of us plays several roles
simultaneously. The real personal impact is how we connect with the people around us, in every walk
and stage of life. We need to be able to transfer what we learn from one arena into all the others. I
believe this is the key to a fulfilled life I want to share my experience with others.
3: You have worn many hats over the years from 'single gal’ in France & Switzerland, and – in
Germany – a trailing spouse, stay-at-home mother, international tech marketer, and small business
founder? What did you learn from each of these stages in your life?
I read in a recent report that of the partners of international employees:
76% are women
70% are aged 25-44
92% are married
29% have a Bachelor’s degree,
53% have a Master’s degree or postgraduate diploma, and 6%
have a Doctorate/PhD
90% were in some form of employment before moving to the host country
Yet only 47% were in some form of employment in the host country
Now there are many possible reasons for this last statistic. But to answer your question, I was one of
these people and I learned that it was incredibly difficult – especially for mothers like me who wanted to work – to find a flexible way to do that. I wasn’t just isolated by maternal commitments and
geography, but also by lack of access to a work network (in the days before LinkedIn!) The odds can
be stacked against you: employer expectations, language, childcare, support network, and more. Not
to mention our own limiting beliefs and those of our partner.
And I say that as someone who has always had the legal right to work and was lucky enough to find a